


A Girl Needs to Eat

by i_write_shakespeare_not_disney



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU, Cooking, F/M, One Shot, post breakup prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-08
Updated: 2017-12-08
Packaged: 2019-02-12 01:03:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12947946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_write_shakespeare_not_disney/pseuds/i_write_shakespeare_not_disney
Summary: "i know you can’t cook for shit so i’ve been bringing you dinner every night, just, y’know, to keep you alive" w/ hidgeBut like... breakfast. :D





	A Girl Needs to Eat

**Author's Note:**

> art is on my tumblr @i-write-shakespeare-not-disney   
> link: http://i-write-shakespeare-not-disney.tumblr.com/post/168310623072/i-know-you-cant-cook-for-shit-so-ive-been

Her mother always said a girl had to learn to cook. Of course, Pidge had insisted she had more important things to do, and she wasn’t part of gender stereotypes anyway. Anyone could survive off of dinner invites, fast food, and microwave dinners.

Except she didn’t want to. When she’d been dating Hunk, he cooked dinner every night and made breakfast for them every Saturday. Her personal favorite was his breakfast fried rice with Spam and breakfast sausages. He always  let her sleep in and gave her a cup of coffee when she woke up so she could join him to eat on the couch as they continued whatever show they were binging.

They’d broken up on… somewhat amicable terms. She didn’t hate him. And he didn’t hate her, at least she didn’t think so. She did have to drop off anything she had of his at the apartment he was rooming at with Lance. He still talked with Matt from time to time, but they worked together. Still, even Matt didn’t seem to be able to villainize Hunk.

It was a complicated breakup. They didn’t have time for each other at all. Pidge was busy with school and work, exhausted by the time she got home. That only made her cranky, and she’d nitpick at anything Hunk did or didn’t do. She knew she was doing it, she just… couldn’t stop.

Then Hunk had met someone else through his catering business. He’d mentioned her as an offhand comment, a new acquaintance. But Pidge noticed he was on his phone more, that he didn’t bug Pidge to find more free time anymore. Which on the one hand was good, but on the other… well not so much. She hadn’t gone crazy or anything. She didn’t check his messages or stalk his social media. But she noticed he was happier.

She asked him about it. And Hunk, who never lied to her, and swore he never would, told her the truth. There was nothing more than a friendship between himself and Shay. But he was ashamed to admit he had to be careful to keep it that way. That he’d nearly made mistakes in the times he met up with her. But he’d never acted on it.

Pidge had simply nodded, kissed his cheek, grabbed her keys. She claimed she was going to get a coffee to clear her head and energize her for her studying. Which she did. But on the way back, she couldn’t stop the tears that had come out of nowhere and had to pullover. A cop had stopped for her, asking if she was okay. When Pidge explained she was just a little emotional, the officer had offered to escort her home. Pidge thanked her and drove home with a cop tailing her.

She’d gone into her home to find Hunk asleep on the couch, in the same spot she’d left him. She’d woken him up, tears threatening to spill all over again.

“This isn’t healthy,” she whispered. “I think… we need to end this.”

He’d protested, but Pidge made points out of their lack of time, Hunk’s already wandering eyes, the fact that she knew she could be insensitive when she was stressed. She didn’t want him to start hating her, and she didn’t want to risk hating him. Not when she loved him so much.

And now, here she was, nearly a month without a single homecooked meal, attempting to make pancakes. It shouldn’t be this hard. There were instructions on the damn box, she was an engineer for crying out loud. But she couldn’t make a stupid fucking pancake.

She cursed as the smoke alarm went off again and stared at the burnt piece of- God she couldn’t even call it a pancake- on the pan. She sighed and decided if she and Hunk were supposed to be friends still, it was okay to ask him to help her. Right? She needed food. Healthy food. Not Kraft Mac N’ Cheese or Stouffer’s one-person lasagna.

She bit her lip and grabbed her phone.

***

The consistent chiming of his phone was what woke Hunk up. He groaned and sat up, fumbling for his phone. He was a little confused when the phone showed “Katie” because he didn’t know a Katie. Except he did… he was just used to calling her Pidge. He unlocked his phone and scrolled up.

The last message had been about two weeks before when she let him know she’d left a box of his things at the door. And he’d told her to take care.

Now there were more.

_So uh, this is a little weird… but I’m super hungry but…_

There was a picture of something black and charred in a pan.

_I KEEP BURNING EVERYTHING!!!_

_Pls help me. I’m starving & haven’t had a homecooked meal in weeks._

_I just want some fucking pancakes._

Hunk laughed to himself, feeling something fond in his chest. He typed back, telling her he’d be there soon.

_Thank. You. So much._

He smiled at his screen and shook his head as he got up to get dressed.

A half hour later, he was knocking on Pidge’s- Katie’s door, holding his breath. It would be the first time they see each other since they broke up almost two months ago. The door opened and he saw Katie wearing an oversized yellow sweater and sweats, her hair pulled into a small ponytail while the smaller strands fell out messily. She looked embarrassed, and kept pushing her glasses up, only to pull them back down the bridge of her nose.

“Uh. Hey,” she greeted.

“Hey Pi- uh. Katie. Good morning. I was told my culinary services were needed.”

She grimaced and opened the door further. “You’ve been warned.”

Hunk laughed and walked in. “Come on, it can’t be that- Whoa.” He cleared his throat and took in the kitchen. There was a mess everywhere, and it smelled of burn… something. “You weren’t kidding when you said you burned everything.”

“Nope,” she answered. She looked over at him, her expression completely blank. “Fire alarm went off. Twice.”

Hunk suppressed a smile, but failed because she nudged him and groaned. “Okay, well, first thing’s first,” he said, opening the fridge. “When’s the last time you went grocery shopping?”

Katie looked around as though the answer would be somewhere in the kitchen. Hunk chuckled and grabbed his keys, nudging her gently toward the door. “Oh this should be fun,” she grumbled.

***

Arriving at Wal-Mart felt… nostalgic. Hunk got a cart and Pidge walked beside him, comforted by their height difference. While the car ride had been comfortable because of horrible singing and laughter, being at the store felt different. Pidge felt nervous.

“So how’ve you been?” she asked as they started for the back where the frozen things were.

“I’ve been okay. It’s holiday season, so everyone’s calling in for catering.” She nodded, recalling how busy he could get during the holidays. “I’m saving up to open a restaurant. They have an empty building near the optometrist you go to. So I’m trying to lease it.”

“No way,” she said with a smile. “Seriously? You can start the restaurant there?”

“Well, I know a lot of chefs. Shouldn’t be hard to get waiters and waitresses. I’m not missing much.”

“Hunk, that’s… really incredible, oh my God.”

Hunk smiled at her and raised an eyebrow. “You seem so happy.”

“I’m happy for you! I know how long you’ve wanted to do this, and it’s gonna come true for you!” Hunk held her gaze and smiled appreciatively. Pidge cleared her throat and chuckled as she saw a hat display in the clothes section across from the food section. “Look!” She grabbed a large sunhat with edges so wide they seemed to scream “Personal space please.”

“Oh boy,” he laughed, leaning against the cart.

“Put one on,” she said.

“No.”

“Please?”

“No.”

“Hunk!” He chuckled and looked at her. “Well,” she said, putting on a southern belle accent. “You’d never believe what I heard Susan say during Sunday’s mass.” Hunk hummed and raised an eyebrow. “She said her casserole was better than mine!”

“Don’t blame her none, Miss Katie, you probably burned yours.”

Pidge’s jaw dropped, and she swatted at his arm as she laughed. “I mean you’re not wrong,” she said in a normal voice. “I love these hats. They’re so ridiculous.” She put the hat back and gestured to a different aisle. “I’m done with frozen. I can’t have another Marie Callendar’s pot pie.”

“Okay, well, what do you want to eat?”

She sighed and shrugged. “It’s hard to want to make stuff when it’s just me, you know? Right now I just really want pancakes and hot chocolate. And like, I know the hot chocolate is just hot milk and the packet, but it still doesn’t taste like you make it.” She looked away and busied herself with boxes of cake and cookie mixes set out for Christmas celebrations.

A few seconds later, Hunk said, “Okay. So today we make chocolate chip pancakes from scratch. When you want to make something else, I can help you out again.” Pidge looked back at him, dubious. “Come on, Katie,” he said with a smile. “Get into the cart.”

“In the cart?” he nodded and she clambered in, cross legged. Without warning, Hunk began racing between the aisles, making Pidge gasp and laugh nervously. “Whoa-whoa! Oh my gosh!” she laughed and held onto the sides, wincing as they narrowly missed a few displays. “Hunk, you’re going too fast!”

He came to an abrupt stop and she held herself in place, laughing breathlessly as she looked up at him. “That was never a problem before.”

Pidge’s eyebrows went up, her cheeks reddening. She turned and kept her eyes on him refusing to back down. “I’m hungry. Now is not the time for sexual innuendos.” She sat and pointed. “To the chocolate!”

Somehow, the search of a few simple ingredients took them nearly two hours, and Pidge had forgotten she was hungry in the first place. By the time they got back to her place, it was past noon. But she still wanted pancakes.

Hunk began listing the different measurements and techniques, but Pidge was just enjoying herself by watching the way he mixed. It was quick like he was barely even thinking about what he was doing. He worked quickly with no mess. Pidge envied it.

He began to pour the batter into a pan, spatula in hand and Pidge sat herself on the counter beside the stove. She was in charge of passing the bowl of batter to him. She bit her lip and rested her head on the cabinets behind her.

“So…. Shay’s cool with you doing this?”

“Sh-Shay?” he questioned, looking over at her.

She smiled and shrugged, looking away. “Uh, Lance told me you guys started dating.” Hunk pursed his lips and looked down at the pan. “It’s cool. Just… don’t want to cause any problems.”

“Things with her didn’t… work out.”

“Oh?” Hunk chuckled and shrugged, placing a couple of pancakes on a plate. He gestured for more batter, but Pidge didn’t notice. “Why? Did something happen?”

“Does it matter?” he asked, gesturing again.

She shrugged and swung her legs. “I’m just wondering. If we’re friends, we can talk about this stuff, right?”

Hunk sighed and stood in front of her, hands on either side of her on the counter. “You’re supposed to be learning. Not gossiping.”

It was one of those rare moments when she was at eye-level with him. “Oops,” she breathed. Hunk smiled slightly and Pidge bit her lip. She probably seemed nosy.

“She’s not you,” he whispered. Pidge looked at him in shock.

“But… you said-”

“I _know_ what I said, Pidge.” She took a sharp breath at the sound of him using her nickname again. “But just because she was pretty…. That’s not enough. She was nice and funny, but a lot of girls are. But you’re…. You’re so insanely smart, and beautiful and determined and strong and…. No one comes close you. No one ever will. You were more than just my girlfriend. You were my best friend.”

Pidge let out a shaky breath and gulped. She leaned forward, her arms over his shoulders and very slowly tilted her head. Hunk shut his eyes and leaned forward to meet her lips. It didn’t last as soft and innocent.

They’d been without each other too long. Starving for each other. Pidge was shaking with how badly she’d been craving him. To hold him, to lean against him, to feel his warmth, his lips. Hunk’s arms wrapped around her middle, holding her tightly.

She only pulled away when she needed to breathe, forehead pressed against his. “I never should’ve let you go,” she choked past the knot in her throat.

“And I never should’ve left.”


End file.
